Yoshu Chikanobu
Eastern Brocades: No. 31 Kusunoki Masatsura Azuma nishiki chuya kurabe: Yoshida Goten
Signed: Yoshu Chikanobu hitsu with red toshidama seal
Published: kobayashi Tetsujiro, 09 January 1886
The warrior Kusunoki Masatsura (1326-1348) was the son of Kusunoki Masashige (1294-1336) and both were lotay defenders of the emperors of the Southern Court (plate 178).
As a boy Masatsuna defended his home from curious creatures and spirits, as shown here. Later when he was about to go to his certain death in the Battle of Shijo Naware, he carved out a poem on the door of a temple in Yoshino using his arrowhead. Inset: Matsasura inspecting his death poem.